22 romance books to read while you wait for Emily Henry's next novel

"Modern Classic" will be Henry's seventh romance novel to date. She smashed onto the romance scene in 2020 with "Beach Read" and has written five more books since then, each of which has made The New York Times' bestseller list.

Henry's summer romance books often approach love with a sense of honesty and fun that the genre needs to thrive. Her characters may be enemies who find themselves living next door to each other or best friends who are scared to risk it all for something more, as was the case in "People We Meet on Vacation," which was turned into a Netflix film released in January 2026.

Luckily, there are plenty of other romance books to pass the time with, including Henry's earlier works if you haven't read — or reread — them yet.

In Henry's 2020 novel "Beach Read," which is being adapted into a film, author January Andrews is in a writing rut. She can't seem to think of her next big idea for a romance novel, so she decides to retreat to the beach house she inherited from her father, hoping inspiration will strike.

January plans to steer clear of Augustus for the duration of summer — until she finds out he's having writer's block, too. They decide the solution to their problem is for each of them to try their hand at each other's writing style. Augustus will have to show January the ropes of capital-L literature, and she'll have to make him fall in love with writing about love.

No one expected Alex and Poppy to become best friends less than Alex and Poppy. After a fateful road trip in college, free-spirited Poppy and buttoned-up Alex become inseparable.

As Poppy feels more bogged down than ever by her life in New York, she knows reuniting with Alex would make everything better. So Poppy proposes one more trip, hoping a week together can get their friendship — and her life — back on track.

"Book Lovers" is Henry's third summer romance book, and it's both an epic love story and an ode to books themselves.

When Libby asks Nora to escape to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, for a month, Nora can't say no, especially since Libby is several months pregnant at the time. Libby has big dreams of small-town romance for Nora during their getaway, but instead of finding a local man to have a fling with, Nora keeps running into Charlie Lastra, a grumpy New York editor she's never gotten along with.

Henry is at her best in "Happy Place," a novel that ruminates on what it means to fight for love.

When Wyn abruptly breaks up with her after she starts her medical school residency, Harriet is heartbroken and terrified she's going to lose everyone she loves. She manages to avoid telling Sabrina and Cleo what happened for five months, planning to burst their bubble on their annual group trip to Maine.

All she has to do is stop herself from asking Wyn what went wrong for seven days, but as his displays of fake affection start to feel more and more real, Harriet might have to face her fear of rocking the boat if she wants a true chance at happiness.